For a campus of only 3,100 undergraduate students, reality television is made all the more real when the WB network features two Brandeis students on separate reality shows within the same year.This August, Danny Kahn '07 was one of seven college-aged contestants on the WB's Studio 7. Kahn follows Camille Linick '05, who made an appearance on Elimidate last year, where she was the next-to-last contestant remaining on the show.

Studio 7 is a new series that premiered this summer on the WB network. The hour-long program is designed to test players' knowledge of current events and pop culture, as well as memorization skills, for a chance at winning $77,000.

The reality component of the program forces the players to live together for a week prior to the show, where they can form alliances and plot to build on each others' strengths and weaknesses. Like other reality shows such as Survivor, contestants eliminate their fellow players when one of them fails to complete an assigned task, or in this case, if a player responds incorrectly to a question.

Kahn auditioned for the show completely on a whim. "My friend Robyn Goldstein '07 saw a poster advertising an open casting call for this show in the Brandeis post office," Kahn said. "The audition was in Boston, so some of my friends and I decided to go, thinking nothing would come of it."

At the audition, which was in early May, Kahn needed to submit a photo of himself, complete an application, take a quiz on current events and pop culture, and answer questions on a videotaped interview.

On May 11, Kahn received an e-mail from Studio 7 coordinating producer Jennifer Weeks asking: "I have one quick question I forgot to ask you during our interview...are you claustrophobic?" The e-mail went on to explain that participation in the show might involve standing in an isolation booth. Kahn responded to the email and checked with his friends to see if any of them had gotten an e-mail as well. They had not. He was puzzled, did not think too much of it.

In early July, Kahn was caught off-guard when he received a telephone call from the producers to notify him that he had been selected as one the show's participants. "I was very surprised to get the call, it had been so long [since the audition] that I had thought I didn't make it," he said. He then traveled to New York City to live with six other players from around the country.

According to Kahn, the show tried to typecast different contestants as having distinct personalities and characteristics. For example, one player named Leslie was depicted as being particularly dense and overconfident. Kahn said that while the viewers may have seen Leslie answer several questions incorrectly, "there were a lot of questions that [the producers] didn't show."

Another contestant, George, was portrayed as being a cocky, stand-offish know-it-all. According to Kahn, this was not far from the truth.

"Everyone clashed with [George's] personality," Kahn said, "but we put up him and complained about him later." The relationship between Kahn and George is particularly worth noting, as Kahn eventually squared off against George in the show's final of six increasingly difficult rounds.

A focal point of the episode was on the "alliance" created between Kahn and two fellow players, Becky and Ashley. According to Kahn, the alliance was an agreement between the three of them to assist each other to answer questions when help was needed.

"The three of us knew the least of the memorization section-it just worked out that we formed an alliance that way," Kahn said.

The show made sure to capture the reactions of Kahn's castmates, many of whom expressed some jealousy or concern over the tight bond between Kahn, Becky and Ashley. The alliance between the three certainly worked to Kahn's advantage, as he was able to advance through three rounds that challenged his knowledge of current events and pop culture. These cycles began with 20th century events and progressed to events of only 30 days prior to the show.

Kahn then bested even his allies as he moved through specialized memorization sections that tested his ability to recall obscure information about common rats and mice.

These strenuous sequences left him one of the final two players with a chance of winning the $77,000 prize.

The final round was a timed quiz of current events culled from the seven days prior to the show. George opted to go first, answering seven questions correctly within the span of one minute and 35 seconds. In order to win, Kahn needed to answer the same number of questions correctly in a shorter time span. The tension was at its greatest here, especially when it became unclear as to whether Kahn had beaten George's time. Kahn's last response was so near to George's time that the host declared the results a "photo finish," meaning that operators needed to review the footage to determine the winner.

The taped show, which reveals the result immediately, didn't show that Kahn and George actually waited 20 minutes to learn the outcome.

With a margin of time that trailed mere milliseconds behind his opponent's, Kahn was forced to concede defeat to George.

"Of course I was upset, but not as upset as I thought I would be," Kahn said about the result.

Kahn noted that his fellow players were happy to see him advance as far as he did, circling around and hugging him while George stood alone at the end of the show. Final interview clips with contestants revealed that they would have wanted Kahn to win.

Since appearing on the show and returning to Brandeis, Kahn said that although he still sees reality television as somewhat insignificant, "It was a great experience ... I'd do it again in a second."

Kahn also commented on what he calls the "Brandeis effect" regarding his recent elevation to semi-stardom: "All my friends have seen it, they all say something to me, like 'it really sucks that you lost.'"

While walking around campus, both friends and strangers have approached Kahn to say they saw him on the show.

"It's surreal because I'm just a regular person to me and my friends, but people see me as someone else," Kahn said.

Kahn's suitemate recently had a friend visiting Brandeis who watched the show and felt so bad about Kahn's loss that he gave Kahn $20. "People have been saying they're gonna start a fund, but this is the first real money I've seen," Kahn said.

He noted that he does not view his position as celebrity status, but rather as "extra attention" for having done something notable, and does not think that this experience has significantly changed him.

Kahn said that one his favorite byproducts of the experience is that he is still in touch with the other members of his allied trio, Becky and Ashley. He also said he looks forward to continuing to stay in touch with other players, with the possible and certainly understandable exception of George.